March 01, 2004

A YEAR LATE, KERRY GOES UNILATERAL

The candidate who wouldn't "support the president to proceed unilaterally" against Iraq has transformed into a Haitian hawk:

Kerry (D-Mass.) said he would have sent troops to Haiti even without international support to quell the revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"President Kerry would never have allowed that to get where it is," Kerry said, though he added he's not "a big Aristide fan."

A Kerry administration would have given the rebels a 48-hour ultimatum to come up with a peaceful agreement - "otherwise, we're coming in," he said.

"I would intervene with the international community, and absent an international force, I'd do it unilaterally," he said, adding the most important thing was to protect democracy.

You’d think all that Botox would’ve frozen a few thoughts in place; instead, they flop around inside Kerry’s head like dying bats. He’s quite the inspirational speaker, too, as James Lileks points out. How’s this for a line to rally the nation:

If you've gone over to the forces of nuance, Kerry's your guy - or your nuancy boy. He's got nuances coming out of his nuances. As the New York Times put it in its endorsement of the Senator: "What his critics see as an inability to take strong, clear positions seems to us to reflect his appreciation that life is not simple. He understands the nuances."

That may be the most lethal endorsement since Al Gore leapt on the Howard Dean bandwagon and sent it careering into the ravine.

Posted by Tim Blair at March 1, 2004 11:36 PM

Comments

Cripes! One could be forgiven for thinking that the missing WMD entered Kerry's body through his facial dermis, briefly reviving his sagging face, then chewed it's way through his skull and munched contentedly on his brain. How else to explain these ravings?

Jeebus H. wept. Lemme get this straight - Kerry won't send troops to Iraq, where they would overthrow a murderous dictator, but would send them to Haiti in order to protect a murderous dictator.

Given Kerry's inveterate fudging of every position, I'm beginning to think his middle initial "F" stands for Fig Leaf. In this case, the fig leaf is "even though I don't like Aristide."

And whats that rot about propping up Aristide being the protection of democracy? Does anyone in the press ever ask Kerry a follow-up question? How would the Kerry "democracy doctrine" justify defending a dictator in Haiti, while refusing to overthrow one and jumpstart a democracy in Iraq?

And I used to think the Republicans were the stupid party. I'm back to thinking Bush in a landslide if he runs against Kerry.

Forget about Kerry's position on Haiti (or on anything; whatever position he takes, it's not going last long enough for us to comment). The question is why the dog didn't bark. Why didn't Jimmy and Bill bark? Where has the Carter Foundation been since Bill liberated Haiti? Why did they betray Aristide (or was it the other way around and Aristide took advantage of their naivete)?

Yet more evidence of Kerry's Viet Nam fixation. He's in favor of intervening to support a corrupt local government being challenged by a popular uprising. Haiti probably would not turn out to be like Viet Name, but it has a lot more superficial resemblance to it than does Iraq.

Another perfectly good chance to redeem themselves and the HUMAN SHIELDS blow it. I would think they'd like to prove they mean what they say. Heck, Iraq showed them to be wimps. They didn't stick around to be used as real human shields.

Haiti is a place that could use them. Mugabe's countrymen could use them also. I say it's time for them to pack up and ship out. Show the world they really WILL put their lives on the line to protect innocent lives.

Plenty of innocent lives at risk in both countries. A Human Shield's dream come true. I'll look forward to the online updates. With Mugabe, especially, lots of opportunity to "speak truth to power". Mugabe could use some truth being spoken to him.

There's also N. Korea, Cuba, and Sudan. The innocent people suffering under these regimes could use Human Shields *plus* "speaking truth to power". Go to it, Human Shields. Destiny awaits.
Gather your fellow activists. Stage some protests with those way-cool puppets. I'm sure the people will love ya for it. You may get killed, but I imagine Human Shields aren't afraid of that.

He waffles on an issue and then must avoid further mention of said issue to hide his flip-flop. It's only March 1, and the number of issues left is rapidly decreasing. By November, Kerry's going to be wildly concerned about the white-spotted polka-dot moth-eating wombat's apparent lack of endangered species status. "I encountered dozens of these fuzzy, cuddly creatures while on a swiftboat in Vietnam..."

Good lord. Haiti is... I'll tell you what Haiti is, Haiti is one of the best pieces of evidence that human beings are at nature depraved and violent, and that if there were nothing left of the world to fight over but a single piece of damp, 2-inch-square moldy cardboard we would start a war over it. Leaving aside whatever attractions a homeland has for the people native to it, Haiti has absolutely nothing in the way of natural resources or strategic importance worth fighting for. So, of course, sending troops to quell some pathetically thuggish "uprising" (I'd call it a "downrising," considering the quality of both sides of the "struggle") in that land attracts the leftish contingent, who like nothing more than a battle they can lose (because you can't "win" in a country like Haiti unless you are willing to break a lot of heads, and we ain't) in order to suffer ostentatiously about how "hopeless" everything is.

By the way, I'd like to mention that any Haitian with any sense in his head gets out, or plans to get out, of that ton-ton-macoute-vs.-thuggish-dicator-riddled nuthouse as soon as he can. All of the Haitians I have met (they mostly head straight to Florida, of course) have been very resourceful, and tend to become successful. Once they get to a place with resources, that is.

The answer to what Kerry will talk about when he runs out of topics on which he has spoken on both sides is to point out that he fought in Viet Nam. He is already doing that as an answer to pretty much anything on Iraq, etc.

Does John Howard have God on his side? In his recent response to a question about Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ", Grampah John said that "some of my colleagues have an understanding.." of the issues raised in the film. My advice to Mr Howard is to read the book rather than comment on the movie - he may then also get an understanding of a whole range of issues not related to movies, such as telling huge porkies about Iraq.

Kerry is on both sides of every issue, countless quotes prove this beyond all doubt. Except on one. Kerry says that terrorism is a law enforcemnet issue. He prefers to fight terorists with police and fireman and not the greatest military on earth. Jailing those who set off a car bomb at the World Trade Center did not stop them from coming back top finish the job now did it.

This is an issue because the congressional black caucus in Washington DC says it is. It is a an opportunity for the Democrats to tell Black Americans that Republicans are eeevvviiiiil!! Of course they don't quite come out and say it that way, it is implied. And then some idiot black activist types -Randall Robinson, JJ - start talking about how Aristide was "kidnapped", just to pile on. Most Americans would just assume Haiti sink to the bottom of the ocean and disappear - it is the most impoverished poor excuse for a country in the western hemisphere.